3 Guys Named Hippolytus - All Killed By Horses

In Greek mythology, Hippolytus was the son of Theseus (who slew the Minotaur).  He was a chaste youth who rejected the advances of his stepmother who falsely told her husband that Hippolytus had tried to rape her.  Theseus then cursed Hippolytus and had horses drag the innocent Hippolytus to his death.

The Golden Legend records the story of another Hippolytus, this one being a witness to the death of Saint Lawrence.  This Hippolytus was a soldier who buried the body of Lawrence thus exposing his own Christianity.  On August 13 of 256, he was "tied by the feet to the necks of untamed horses, and dragged over thistles and thorns until he breathed his last." 

Hippolytus of Rome (170 - 236) was a learned priest in Rome who wrote many documents about the Church including the second liturgical prayer that is still used in Holy Mass.  He was a rigid and rigorist defender of orthodoxy with a righteous arrogance.  He denounced several popes for not being faithful enough and being too lenient towards sinners.  He set himself up as an alternative bishop of Rome and hence an anti-pope.  He and the pope, Pontian, were both dragged out of Rome and thrown into the mines of Sardinia.   Hippolytus reconciled with Pontian and recognized him as the true pope before they both died from the harsh labor of the mines.   The Golden Legend says that Hippolytus was torn apart by four horses on Sardinia.   The feast day of St. Pontian & St. Hippolytus is August 13.